Skimming the Surface
by Hooty-McBoon
Summary: A job goes wrong and the team is now on the run. A/A.  summary sucks
1. Chased

**I promised that I would be writing a chapter fic, oh and here it is. I really hope you like it. I don't have a beta, so the grammar/spelling in this might be really bad, I apologised for that. Please don't hurt me.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own a thing. –sulks-**

**Skimming the Surface**

**Chapter 1: Chased**

Her breath came out in harsh bursts as the air was expelled from her lungs, her feet propelled her forwards as rain, sweat and tears all mingled as one on her skin. Her right hand was stuffed in the pocket of her jacket gripping the golden chess piece inside it, she was not dreaming. Ariadne's heart pounded painfully in her chest as she cast a cautionary glance over her shoulder at the three men who were currently pursuing her, they were catching up.

It had been four months since the Fischer job and Ariadne had been starting to wonder when she would be contacted by the others for another job, three weeks ago she had received a note from Arthur telling her to pack a bag and get on the next flight to Australia, she had been more than a little excited, the job was another Inception mission, apparently news of their success with Fischer had spread and people wanted to hire Cobb and his team. Cobb had come out of retirement, he wasn't a wanted criminal anymore and he needed some money, the job promised to be short. The idea that needed to be planted was to get something patented before someone else did, the man hiring the team was the mark's partner. He believed that he knew what was best and that that involved getting the idea patented which is partner refused to do. The idea had been implanted easily enough, but it was only when the job was done that they found out what the patent was for. It was a weapon. A very dangerous weapon, which would be put on sale as soon as the patent went through. At first Eames had tried to blame Arthur for once again not doing his research correctly, the Point Man had glared at him before glancing at Cobb who had been pacing back and forth, Arthur's job hadn't been about what the patent was for, he had been instructed to find out about the man they were planting the idea into, nothing else. Cobb however must have known what they were getting into.

"Well, Dom?" Arthur's tone was harsh as he glared the extractor.

"They..." he paused biting his lip guiltily, "...I knew it was a weapon." He spat the words out ashamed of himself; "I had to agree to do the job, before they told me what it was." The excuse was feeble and Dom felt responsible for it, he knew that if his team had been aware they probably wouldn't have agreed to do the job.

The reason Ariadne was currently running through the wet streets of Paris wasn't because of those who had employed her, but because of their employer's rivals, somehow they had found out about the Inception and had taken in upon themselves to hunt down the team who lost them Millions of dollars. Ariadne hadn't had any contact with the team so she didn't know where any of them where, if they were also being pursued or if they had managed to keep themselves better hidden. She was less than a block away from her apartment building, what she would do when she got there she wasn't sure, she wondered if they had already broken into her apartment. Then her body came into contact with someone else's, the collision would have knocked her off her feet had the person not caught her. An icy cold sliver of fear slid across her heart and she tried her best to hold it together, she was about to hit the person who was holding her, then she realised she could smell a familiar aftershave and as she looked up her breath caught in her throat as she smiled.

"Arthur." She whispered, but there was no time for pleasantries, he grabbed her arm and pulled her down an ally way; "When did you get here? Who are the people after me? Have they found the others yet?" the stream of questions left her lips like a waterfall, Arthur did not reply instead he motioned to her to get into the black Porsche 911 that was parked there. She ducked into the passenger's seat and sat in silence waiting for Arthur to answer her tirade of questions when he handed her a gun, her eyes widened and she looked up at him questioningly, she had never shot a gun before and didn't particularly want to either; "Will I need this?"

He chose to answer this question and gritted his teeth as he felt his throat constrict at the frightened tone of her voice; "Hopefully not, but if those men who were chasing you follow us...point and shoot." She nodded slowly before picking up the gun and gripping it tightly. He reversed quickly out of the ally way his eyes narrowed and glaring out of the rear windshield, something had gone wrong. Ariadne was the architect, she hadn't even gone into the dream this time so the fact that they had found her had Arthur on edge. Once they were on the motorway Arthur seemed to relax, they were heading south towards Orléans, he would glance at Ariadne every one in a while.

"What?" she sounded slightly annoyed as the Point Man glanced in her direction once more.

He gritted his teeth and raised a hand slowly; "You...uh. You're bleeding." His fingers indicated the mark on her forehead, Ariadne lifted her hand and touched in tentatively, she winced slightly before pulling her hand away to examine her fingers which were now coated in her blood; "What happened?" she was surprised that he had asked, he was the one who was supposed to know everything.

Her eyes lifted to his face, he was now concentrating on the road but she could tell his attention was still on her, his knuckles were gripping the steering wheel so tightly that they were now white; "Uh...well..." she then went onto explain how she had finished lessons for the day and had been carrying a very heavy case filled with research and sketches when she had noticed a man following her. Arthur's jaw was clenched at this but Ariadne chose to continue, the man had been wearing dark clothes and sunglasses trying to appear inconspicuous but Ariadne's training had taught her to look out for tell tale signs when someone is following you. She had known almost straight away, as she had sped up so had he, so she started taking a very strange route home, she had turned down an ally way, much like the one Arthur had parked his car in, and heard fast footsteps behind her before a hand fell on her shoulder, she decided that it would be best to not check who it was, so she just swung her heavy folder and smiled to herself as it connected with the side of her pursuer's head. She hadn't counted on there being more than one however, so as the first man clutched the side of his head a second man appeared behind her and pushed her into the wall, the side of her face met the cold hard stone of the wall, she was certain that it would leave a bruise, she had struggled but held her breath as the man leaned in close and spoke to her.

"You and your little team are in a lot of trouble young lady." The accent was from Northern England, Ariadne waited for the opportune moment, when she rammed her elbow into his gut and turned to knee him in the groin, he backed away clutching his crotch cursing as he ordered his cronies to catch her. Ariadne paused in her story telling as she noticed Arthur was pulling off the motorway into a small town, she glanced up at him and he glanced at her as a signifier that she should continue. She paused for a little longer as a wave of pain from the injury to her forehead made itself known once more.

"I didn't really know what I was doing, I started heading back to my apartment, I had hoped to grab some things before leaving..." she trailed off before reaching into her coat pocket and pulling her golden bishop from it and holding it tightly, having that with her was all that really mattered; "I was on my way there when I...uh...bumped into you." She smiled slightly trying to lighten the mood. It didn't work, Arthur's face was stony he didn't seem to be in the mood for her light humour. The sun had begun setting and Arthur's eyes kept darting into the rear view mirror, Ariadne realised then that she had been so busy telling him what had happened that she hadn't been looking to see if they were being followed; "Were they following the others? Have you spoken to Cobb?" Ariadne remembered the questions that he had neglected to answer before.

Arthur pulled up and turned to look at her, he sighed heavily; "Ariadne, these people are very dangerous, they managed to somehow find you," he paused for a moment as he gritted his teeth; "you weren't even in the dream, so the likelihood that they have found the others is very high." He watched as her face fell, she should have realised this; "We need to leave this car here and find another one. We're going to need to steal it." He sounded tired, as he explained it to her. Ariadne nodded understanding as she watched him slide out of the car, she was still in a daze as he moved round to help her out. He then pulled a large duffle bag out from the Porsche's boot, Ariadne raised a questioning eyebrow; "I knew they were coming for you...so I took some stuff from your apartment." He almost looked sheepish as he told her but Ariadne found that she didn't mind. He had after all saved her life. Ariadne followed Arthur as he walked along a winding lane in the growing darkness, they were looking for a car to steal, in an attempt to cover their tracks, the first car they came upon was a Land Rover. After a quarter of an hour Arthur had managed to break into it and jump start it without setting off the alarm.

Ariadne slipped into the front seat, she glanced at him expectantly; "Where to now?" she asked, her voice sounded so small that Arthur had to glance at her to make sure she had actually spoken.

"We will head for Bordeaux where we'll meet Cobb and Eames. We'll regroup and try and come up with a plan. Don't worry Ari, leave it all to us." He wanted to say me, but felt that that would sound too self-centred. Arthur was completely unaware of how Ariadne's heart had constricted as he had called her; 'Ari' a nickname that only her mother had used when she had been about four or five years old, the memory caused her to smile slightly; "You should get some sleep it'll be a long drive." Arthur glanced at before pressing his foot on the gas and moving from the side of the road. The car was nowhere near as nice as Arthur's Porsche, and Ariadne was sure that he was pretty gutted at having to leave it behind, but it would have to do. She hoped that changing the car would keep their pursuers at bay at least for a little while.

**A/N: Well that was chapter one. Yeah. So it was kinda short just setting the scene really. Don't worry the next chapter will probably be longer. Reviews are lovely. Please and thank you. No flames.**


	2. Safety and training

Here we go chapter 2. (I have tried to break up the paragraphs to make them easier to read).

Disclaimer: I don't own a thing.

**Chapter 2: Safety and training.**

Ariadne had fallen asleep not long after Arthur had pulled onto the motorway, he was glad that she was resting now, and she had certainly had an ordeal. His gaze would drift to the cut on her forehead every once in a while. The blood was now drying and some had stuck her hair to her forehead, there was also a horrible purple bruise forming under her right eye. Arthur suddenly had the urge to turn the car around and face their pursuers just so that he could teach them a lesson for touching her. He gripped the steering wheel a little bit tighter before looking over at Ariadne who was sleeping with her head resting against the window, it didn't look particularly comfortable but sleeping in a car never is.

Arthur stifled a yawn, he had been driving for almost four hours since Paris and he was really beginning to feel it. It was only just midnight and the roads were deserted, for this Arthur was glad, it meant that if they were still being followed he would know about it straight away, luckily however they had the road all to themselves. When Arthur finally arrived at Bordeaux he sighed happily, he would now have to find the hotel, Eames and Cobb were meeting himself and Ariadne at, The Regent Grand Hotel. They were due to arrive the next morning, Arthur would be glad to finally get a chance to lie down and relax. He had been on edge for days, Cobb had informed him that they were all being tracked by the competitors of their last job. Arthur's very first instinct had been to find Ariadne, he'd been keeping an eye on her from a far for a few days, he had noticed when someone else started following her as well, unfortunately while he had been at her apartment packing her bag, the man who had been following her decided to make their move.

Arthur pulled into the car park of the large hotel, he left Ariadne in the car while he checked them in and took their bags inside, when he returned she was still asleep, he didn't want to wake her but he knew they he wouldn't be able to carry her to the room. He was far too exhausted. Instead he opened the car door and gently shook her shoulder.

"Mmm?" her eyes were still half closed as she turned her body to look at Arthur.

"We're here," he pushed the car door open wider; "come on, let us get you to bed." Ariadne mumbled something about Arthur and hotel rooms as she slid effortlessly from the car and on to the asphalt. Arthur locked the car and followed slowly behind her, he glanced around them making sure that they weren't being watched, he paused in the doorway and noticed that Ariadne was waiting for him, he ushered her inside the hotel and then into a lift.

"What time is it?" her voice was thick with sleep and her eyes were drooping heavily.

There was a pause as Arthur stretched his left arm out in front of him and moved it so that his sleeve shifted above his watch; "Uh...3.47am." Arthur then had to remind himself to breathe as Ariadne rested her head gently against his shoulder. A sleepy noise escaped her as she rested against him, he moved an arm carefully around her to support her, he hoped that she couldn't hear the way his heart was hammering loudly against his ribcage, the lift doors opened and Arthur walked Ariadne to the door of their room, he pushed the key card into the slot and opened the door carefully. He walked her over to the bed and gently sat her down, he turned to close the door and Ariadne shuffled up the bed pausing only for a moment to slip her shoes off, Arthur turned to see that she had already fallen back asleep and marvelled at her ability to get back to sleep so quickly. Arthur carefully took his suit off and hung it up in the wardrobe, the extra work would be worth it in the morning. He was now dressed only in his boxers, he wondered what Ariadne would say when she woke in the morning to find him almost naked in the same bed as her. He lifted one of the covers and pulled it so that it was covering Ariadne before settling into the bed. He slipped quickly into a dreamless sleep, he was surprised by how easily he fell asleep while there was someone else in the bed. He would normally be on high alert, it seemed that his trust for Ariadne ran deeper than he had first thought.

Ariadne woke the next morning to find Arthur already up and fully dressed, he was sat in a chair reading a newspaper, she rubbed her eyes and winced as her fingers brushed the cut above her right eyebrow, she really needed to have a shower, sleeping in her clothes had been a bad idea, she was now hot and her clothes were not in a state to be worn again, Ariadne hoped that Arthur had brought enough clothes for her to wear.

"Good morning." Arthur's voice caused Ariadne to jump slightly, she had been thinking back to the events of the night before.

She smiled slightly and muttered something that sounded like a good morning before yawning and sighing heavily; "Um, where is that bag you packed for me?"

Arthur carefully folded the newspaper and gestured to the draws; "I unpacked your clothes before I brought you up here." His small smile was beautiful and Ariadne felt her heart skip a beat.

"Thanks." She whispered before grabbing a t-shirt and some underwear, Arthur had neglected to pack another pair of jeans so she would have to settle for the ones she had slept in. She quietly slipped into the bathroom to get changed and wondered to herself where exactly Arthur had slept that night, she hadn't noticed that the other side of the bed was messed up, and by the time she was dressed and out of the bathroom Arthur had made the bed; "You know they have people to do that for you?" she said a small smile playing on her lips as she pulled her scarf around her neck.

"I can't stand mess." Was all he said in reply as someone knocked on the door, Arthur motioned to Ariadne to step back into the bathroom as he pulled his gun out and looked through the peephole on the door; "It's Cobb, stay there for a moment." He hissed still on edge, he then pulled the door open and Cobb and Eames stepped inside.

"Were you followed?" Cobb's question was hushed as his eyes darted around the room.

Arthur shook his head; "Ariadne you can come out." She slipped out of the bathroom her eyes were wide with fear.

"You've scared her half to death Arthur." Eames' West London drawl calmed Ariadne slightly as she smiled at him.

Arthur pulled Cobb to one side his face devoid of emotion; "They found her though, look Cobb I know you said these people are serious...but they shouldn't have been able to find Ariadne." He was clearly angry but was refusing to show it, his tone was calm and his face remained stony as he spoke.

Cobb glanced from Ariadne to his point man and back again; "How many?"

"What?" Arthur was confused.

"How many of his men were sent after her?" Cobb clarified.

Arthur shrugged slightly, he didn't know how many, he almost kicked himself for not knowing details were his thing, he should know; "Three. I was followed by three men. But there could have been more." Ariadne was very matter of fact about it. All traces of fear had left her eyes; she didn't want to be coddled anymore.

Arthur noticed a look cross over Cobb's face that worried him; "What? Dom! What does that mean?" he needed to know.

"They were using her to smoke us out." Cobb paused and his jaw tightened as he clenched his teeth; "They knew that we would come to her aid if she was in danger."

"Who knew?" Eames entered the conversation, a frown plastered on his face.

Cobb shook his head, this only proved to anger Arthur, who grabbed the front of Cobb's jacket; "You got us into this Dom! Tell us who we are up against. Who are they?" Dom sighed heavily before looking into Arthur's eyes.

"They work for a company called Feygud Enterprises, they claim to be a legitimate business, but really they make most of their money trading in weapons and kidnapping." He paused and glanced around at Eames and Ariadne before settling on Arthur once more; "They threatened my family Arthur, I had to...after the job I went back to Phillipa and James when I got a call, they knew all about my family knew where I lived." Arthur's jaw was twitching slightly as his listened to Dom's story; "I...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have accepted the first job, but it was a lot of money."

"That isn't good enough Dom! You have put all of us in danger." Her biting response was fuelled by the fear that had now returned tenfold and was causing her heart to beat faster; "Are James and Phillipa safe?" Dom nodded slowly before explaining that they were with Miles.

"So how do you plan on getting us out of this one Dom?" Eames sounded slightly amused by the whole situation. The danger of it all was thrilling to him.

"We need to get all the information we can on Feygud. Especially, information about the man; Nathan Faith. He is the one who called me, I don't think he's in charge but he's pretty high up." Arthur nodded knowing that this would be his job; "I don't think it would be wise to move on just yet, but we can't stay here too long either." Cobb was going into business mode, he had it all planned out. Yusuf had already called in, he was staying in Mombasa as it seemed like the safest place for the moment.

"What do I do?" Ariadne wanted to help out, but wasn't sure how she could be useful.

Eames smiled and patted her on the head; "You just keep your pretty little head out of trouble, ok sweetheart?" Ariadne's eyes narrowed into a glare at his patronising tone.

"No seriously, I really want to help." She glanced from Cobb to Arthur and back again; "Please."

Cobb looked at Arthur, he knew that this would be tough on his point man, as his feelings for the architect were already apparent; "You need to know how to use a gun." Cobb could see that Arthur was about to object and Ariadne wanted to point out that he was the one who had given her a gun back in Paris, but Cobb spoke before she had a chance; "These people have already gone after her Arthur. We can't watch her 24 hours a day." Arthur was about to protest once more, but this time Ariadne got there first.

"So who is going to teach me?" She asked it like she was about to be taught something other than how to shoot a gun.

Arthur's eyes narrowed as Eames raised his hand; "That would be my job sweetheart." He said with his trademark grin.

Ariadne smiled nervously at the forger; "Will this training happen in the real world or in the dream world?"

"Both, we need to know that you can really protect yourself in the real world, guns act differently in dreams. The kickback isn't as bad and the chances of you hurting yourself while shooting is much less." Cobb explained trying his best to ignore the glare that Arthur was sending his way.

"Looks like it's going to be you and me Ariadne." Eames said as he slung an arm over her shoulder and pulled her into a crushing hug. Ariadne barely had time to return the hug as Eames pulled away locking eyes with Arthur; "We should get to it don't you think?" he raised an eyebrow at the point man in a most challenging manner.

Cobb nodded slowly and watched as Arthur pulled the PASIV devise from his suitcase, he winced slightly as the point man thrust the metal case into Eames' arms. They all set about working on their specific tasks, Arthur turned his laptop on and started looking for information about both Feygud Enterprises and Nathan Faith. Out of the corner of his eye he watched as Eames hooked Ariadne up to the PASIV devise and then attached one of the weirs to his own arm. He stared blankly at the screen of his laptop his heart pounding loudly in his ears, he wanted to be the one teaching Ariadne, Eames would miss something, he wouldn't teach her properly.

"He knows what he is doing." Dom tried to quell any fears that he knew Arthur was feeling; "He's been doing this for as long as you or I have." Arthur still did not respond and wondered if this would be considered sulking.

"But why him?" One of Cobb's eyebrows rose slightly as he gave Arthur a look which told him that he was in fact being very childish indeed.

"You have enough on your plate to deal with right now Arthur." Cobb's tone was now patronising and Arthur had to suppress the urge to punch the extractor; "Have you told her?" Arthur chose to ignore this question and turned back to the laptop. He needed to keep his emotions better in check, he had been okay before Cobb and Eames had turned up, now he was jealous of the forger for getting to spend time training her while he had to research the company who were after them. He decided that it would be prudent to quash any feelings that he harboured for Ariadne, it seemed that Eames delighted in using it to taunt him. His expression had returned to a neutral one as he began to gather information on their hunters.

Cobb smiled to himself as he watched his point man, it had been a very long time since he had seen Arthur even the slightest bit interested in a woman, and he was sure that Ariadne, unlike the object of his adoration previously returned his feelings. He hoped however that Eames would stop messing with Arthur's head, as he felt the point man could truly be happy with the architect.

**A/N: So there you go. I hope you enjoyed ch2. 3 Will be here soon, maybe not as quickly as this one was though. Also I appologise for Arthur being OOC at the end there but it needed to be done. He will be back to normal in the next chapter. ANYWAY;**

**Reviews are love. They make me write faster. ;)  
**


	3. Running

So so so sorry that it has taken me this long to update. My laptop broke and I left it as my boyfriend's job to back up my files, and of course being the idiot he is he didn't back up my fanfiction folder, which meant I have been unable to write for about a month now. NOT HAPPY. Seriously I have been suffering withdrawal symptoms. Anyway, chapter 3 is here now and chapter 4 has been started and should be with you sooner rather than later. I promise. Sorry again.

Disclaimer: Yeah I don't own anything.

**Chapter 3: Running**

Ariadne stood in what appeared to be the middle of a very busy town centre, she watched as projections buzzed around her, Eames was stood to her left watching as she watched. She hadn't been in a shared dream since she taught the layout to the dreamers for their last job, and that had been 3 weeks ago. She had missed being able to create. Eames let her play around with the landscape for a bit before clearing his throat and tapping her on the shoulder.

"You know this isn't what we are here for." He looked amused as she frowned before pouting at him; "Come on, we need to find you a shooting range." She gasped slightly as the Englishman took her hand and dragged her in the direction of a dodgy looking building.

She turned her nose up slightly; "What is this?" She asked and Eames rolled his eyes as he pushed her into the lobby. It was as unclean as the outside and Ariadne glanced behind her at Eames to make sure he had followed her inside.

"We'll start with a hand gun." He said as he walked her up to the desk, a rather large man greeted them and placed two glock 17s on the counter. Ariadne's eyes widened as Eames scooped them both up and handed her one, it looked pretty similar to the gun that Arthur had given her in the car the day before. Eames then led her through a door which she hadn't noticed before, it somehow looked cleaner than the rest of the room.

"So what type of gun is this?" She asked lifting it up slightly.

Eames smiled, pleased that she had asked; "The Glock 17. Is a semi automatic pistol which was made in Austria. It takes 9 millimetre bullets." As he informed her of this his pulled out the magazine and showed her the bullets in it.

"It's not usually this light is it?" Ariadne recalled the weight difference between the one she was holding now, and the one that Arthur had given her. Eames smiled at her, clearly impressed by how quickly she was picking up the subtle differences; "So. Are you going to teach me or what?" Eames grinned again before shoving the magazine back into the gun.

"Let's get to it then." He winked at her and her gaze was drawn to the dummy that had appeared in front of her.

A loud gasping noise was heard in the hotel room, Ariadne's gasp drew Arthur from his work. He looked up worriedly before moving quickly to her side, she was still gasping for air and Arthur was sure that Eames would pay for causing her to look so frightened; "You're ok, hey, look at me." He was reminded of their first meeting and he couldn't help but smile as her hand gripped his tightly.

Eames' eyes were just beginning to open, he rubbed them slightly a small smile gracing his lips; "Calm down Arthur, it was just a training exercise. We've all been through it."

Arthur then remembered what the training exercises where, they had been designed to get you used to dying in dreams, to get you used to feeling physical pain. He still wanted to throttle the smug forger, but instead chose to give Ariadne his full attention; "Are you ok?"

She smiled weakly at him, her breathing now much more normal; "Yeah, still got to get used to dying." The hand that wasn't holding onto his sleeve was pressed to her heart. Arthur smiled slightly as he felt her relax glad that she was now calm he rounded on Eames.

"What exactly did you do?" Cobb who was on the phone to someone glanced up and frowned slightly, he didn't want to have to break them up if a fight ensued.

"Arthur, don't worry about it. I can handle it. You've all been through it before, now it's my turn." She sounded slightly annoyed at him and Arthur couldn't work out why, he was trying to protect her; "Come on Eames let's go again. I think I've almost got the hang of that AK 47." Arthur bit his tongue and moved back over to his laptop. Cobb smirked before getting on with his own work. Arthur watched from over the top of his laptop as Ariadne and Eames settled back into their chairs before Eames pressed the button on the PASIV device and a slight whirring noise signified that it was now operational.

"You shouldn't get so jealous Arthur." Cobb's smirk lifted his eyes happily, he was really beginning to enjoy this.

Arthur's eyes were now fixed on his computer screen; "I don't know what you mean." Cobb shook his head and smiled, deciding to leave his point man to think it over.

They sat in silence for a few more moments until Dom's phone rang, he glanced at it the number was withheld; "Arthur, look out the window." Cobb instructed as he flipped the phone open; "Cobb." There was a pause and he stiffened slightly. Arthur slowly moved the net curtain away from the window, there was a saloon car parked up at the front of the hotel, two men in suits were climbing out while a third looked around for any on lookers. He could tell from the way the man's hand was inside his jacket that he was holding onto a gun. At the very least it was a hand gun.

"We need to give them a kick," Arthur hissed as he moved away from the window, Cobb nodded half of his attention still fixed on the threatening voice in his ear. Arthur moved over to Eames' chair, he shoved it with all his might and Eames toppled over his head hitting the carpet with a satisfying thud, Arthur then moved to Ariadne's chair, he tipped her lightly and made sure he caught her before she hit the floor, her eyes fluttered open and Arthur had to suppress the urge to smile.

"Bloody hell!" Eames was sitting up rubbing the back of his head; "What's going on?"

"Our friends from Feygud are outside." Arthur replied as he grabbed his laptop and closed it violently, he then went around the room packing everything away.

Ariadne watched him; "But how? How did they find us so fast?"

Cobb closed his phone and shook his head; "We don't know, but they know everything, we need to split up again."

Ariadne felt her heart skip a painful beat; "No. We can't. I can't."

Arthur glared at Cobb, this was dangerous, he knew that the extractor hoped that Nathan Faith would follow him and leave his team alone, but it was risky; "She is right Dom, you can't do this. Your kids need you." Ariadne looked confused, her gaze switched between Arthur to Dom and back again.

"Look, I hate to break up the party but didn't you say that men from Feygud were outside?" Eames reminded them.

Arthur nodded and went back into point man mode, he pulled out the gun that he had handed Ariadne in the car, she now recognised it as a Glock 17, and passed it to her again, she gripped it firmly her eyes still following Arthur as he moved to the door pulling out a desert eagle for himself. Eames had an Uzi and Cobb also had a Glock 17.

"We go, together, to the back entrance. We'll steal a car from there and then we run." Arthur had taken control. Cobb nodded slowly as he pulled Ariadne between himself and Arthur.

"We'll cover you." He whispered. She nodded slowly, her fingers were cold and the gun felt so much heavier than it had in the dream. She watched as Arthur slowly opened the door and looked out, he stepped into the hallway before beckoning to her. She darted out her heart beating faster than she thought possible, when she reached him she glanced up into his face, he looked worried. He face wasn't the usual calm mask that she was used to.

"Arthur," his eyes shifted down to her face and his heart clenched painfully as he saw how frightened she was; "these men-"

"Later." He cut her off as Cobb reached them, Eames following quickly behind him. Arthur turned on his heel taking hold of Ariadne's wrist and pulling her along as he did so. He wasn't about to leave her behind. They dashed through the corridors of the hotel, they had to get to the rear of the building, Ariadne was half dragged along by Arthur's free hand. He came to an abrupt stop at the bend just before the emergency exit, there were voices up ahead Arthur's grip tightened before he removed his hand all together Eames moved level with him they made eye contact briefly before Eames tucked the Uzi into the belt of his trousers. He slipped around the corner and the voices stopped, Eames' voice was muffled but Ariadne could tell that was angry, Ariadne winced slightly as she heard the sound of a scuffle. Eames returned seconds later, his hair looked slightly dishevelled and he had a split lip.

"Coast is clear." He said with a quick wink to Ariadne who tried her best to smile back.

Eames led them to the emergency exit past the prone forms of two rather large men, Ariadne had to force herself not to look at them, she stepped carefully over them and hurried down the hall, the back door looked like it had an alarm on it, Arthur paused as he reached it, he glanced at Cobb who sighed heavily; "We don't have a choice Arthur, either we go through this door and set off the alarm or we go out through the main entrance where everyone can see us. I know which one gives us a better chance." Arthur's jaw tightened as he shoved his shoulder against the door, the alarm that sounded was almost deafening, Ariadne shoved her gun into the waist band of her jeans, knowing that she would need both hands to navigate a safe route to the ground floor, which would require both of her hands.

Arthur shouted over the noise as they ran; "As the hotel evacuates they might not see us. The chaos will provide a good cover." Ariadne was struggling to keep up as they hurried down the metal staircase down to the ground level, she lost her balance and slipped on the rusty metal, her hands that she had put down to brace herself were cut in the process. She whimpered slightly as she got to her feet. Cobb who was behind her helped her up before hurrying her along, they didn't have time to dwell on cut hands. Every time Ariadne placed her hands on the railing to brace herself she winced, the feeling of the Glock 17 in her waist band comforted her more than she would care to admit.

Once they reached the bottom Ariadne felt a jolt of fear as she realised how exposed they were. Anyone could see them, she watched as Arthur and Eames rushed from car to car looking for one to steal Cobb took Ariadne by the elbow and pulled her into the shadow of the stairs.

"I know that you're new to this, hell I'm the one that dragged you into it, but you need to be smarter about these things. Walking around like a dazed little lamb is going to get you or one of us shot. Ok?" He paused and she nodded her eyes wide; "I know this is frightening and you aren't used to the 'real life' dangers this job brings. I'm sorry that I dragged you back in..."

"You didn't have a choice they were threatening your kids. I understand. You don't need to apologise for wanting to protect your family." The hard look in his eyes softened slightly and he smiled his thanks. It was then that the gun fire started. They both jumped Cobb's eyes locked with hers he needed to know if she could deal with this. Her jaw was clenched and the Glock 17 was gripped firmly in her hand, she slipped the magazine from the gun and glanced at the bullets for a moment before shoving the magazine back in the gun. Cobb reached into his pocket and pulled out two spare magazines for her, her eyes widened briefly she hoped she wouldn't need that many bullets.

"Are you ready?" she nodded slowly, he smiled before motioning for her to go first; "I will cover you, if you need to shoot you don't hesitate ok?" she nodded again before turning so that her back was to him, as she moved off Cobb felt an enormous wave of guilt, it was because of him that she was in this danger, Arthur and Eames could look after themselves but she was so new to this, if he got her killed he would never forgive himself. He followed slowly gun raised watching carefully for any signs of danger. The sound of gun fire was getting louder as they approached several cars.

"ARTHUR!" Eames' voice was clear and nearer than Cobb had expected, his blood ran cold as he realised the tone in which the forger had yelled. There was fear in his voice. He moved faster catching up to Ariadne who looked confused, things were all happening too fast.

"Eames! Is Arthur ok?" Ariadne looked around wildly apparently she hadn't heard the forger's cry.

Eames appeared from behind a large land rover, he was panting heavily but a lopsided grin hung loosely on his lips; "That old stick in the mud is fine. Just almost got himself shot is all." Ariadne didn't understand how he could be laughing as he said it.

Apparently she wasn't the only one; "Not funny Eames." Cobb whispered exhaling deeply.

Arthur then appeared and Ariadne realised that the gun fire had stopped, that realisation left her with a sick feeling in her stomach it was one thing killing projections, but these were real people, she reached into her pocket and gripped her totem tightly to remind herself how real it was; "We've hotwired a car, let's get moving." Arthur's stoic expression gave nothing away. If he had been afraid there was no evidence of it on his face at all. Arthur led the way to a car that was still running, he and Eames retrieved the bags that had been dropped in the panic and Cobb climbed into the driver's seat while Ariadne got into the back.

Cobb's expression was of utter concentration, his eyes were focused on what would be their escape route, but he was muttering something to himself that sounded like; 'too easy.'

Once Eames and Arthur had got into the car, Cobb floored it, driving as fast as he could. Getting them all out of there was the number one priority. Unfortunately Cobb's assessment had been correct it had been; 'too easy'.

"Shit." Cobb swerved almost hitting another car as Nathan Faith's men ambushed.

"Damn it, Cobb DRIVE!" Eames screamed from next to as the extractor did his best to reverse and turn the car without crashing. There was about twenty men all aiming guns at the car, there was a pause of about two seconds before they began shooting. Cobb ducked beneath the windshield still trying to drive the car while being unable to see. Arthur had unbuckled Ariadne and pulled her onto the floor of the car while he did his best to shoot those who were shooting them without being seen. The sound of bullets hitting the side of the car was terrifying but Ariadne knew that staying safe on the floor wasn't going to help anyone. She sat up and flicked the safety on her gun so that it was off, crawled as high as she could while remaining unseen and began shooting. Arthur turned the moment her gun was first fired, he looked stunned but the look faded to pride a moment later as he turned back to his own shooting.

"Get us out of here!" Arthur's barked order was more than enough for Cobb who decided the best thing to do would be to drive straight and hope for the best.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

**A/N: I hope that this was well worth the wait. (if not then SORRY again). Anyway, chapter 4 has been started and it will be here soonish. Reviews are love. They make me write faster and stop doing uni work. hehe. Thank you for reading.**


	4. Adrenaline

This chapter is really really short. I am so so sorry for that. Basically I got snowed under with work and uni stuff so I just haven't had the time to write. Hopefully as it is the holidays now I will be able to write more for you quicker. I have a month so I will be working hard I promise. Anyway, I really hope you like this chapter even though it is so short. Sorry.

**Chapter 4: Adrenaline**

Ariadne pulled in a heavy breath her heart pounding loudly in her ears as shards of glass rained down on her, the back windshield had just been smashed her hands were shaking as she tried to reload the gun in her hands, they hadn't crashed yet but it still wasn't safe for Cobb to put his head up so he was being guided by Eames who wasn't the best at keeping his mind on the task at hand. The car would swerve left and right quite violently sending Arthur and Ariadne crashing into one another.

There was a loud crash as Cobb clipped the car against a wall, Eames sat up slightly and pulled the wheel towards him as Cobb pressed his foot harder on the peddle, the number of bullets hitting the car slowly became less and less and Cobb decided that it was safe for him to sit up. He straightened up glancing once in his rear view mirror before pressing down on the accelerator. His passengers called out in protest as he swerved violently onto the highway.

"Arthur." Cobb's eyes met the Point man's as he turned to look out the window.

"We're being followed by...two...no three land rovers...they're going to aim for the tiers." Cobb's jaw clenched and Ariadne felt fear swell within her.

Eames looked uncomfortable as he shifted in his seat, he muttered loud enough for everyone to hear; "I should be driving."

Cobb exhaled loudly before glancing at the forger; "Would you like me to pull over? 'Cause I am pretty sure that if I do we will all be killed." Eames pulled a face and reloaded his Uzi; "Thank you Mr. Eames. Is everyone alright back there?" While the question was general they all knew it was aimed at Ariadne who was shaking.

There was a long pause before Arthur replied; "Fine. We're fine." They were fine in the sense that no one was bleeding or actually hurt physically, but the fear in Ariadne's eyes was enough to say that this would leave mental scars. Ariadne sat back in her seat and let the Glock 17 slip from her fingers her hands were bleeding slightly and now was her chance to actually assess the damage that had been done.

She jumped slightly as a pair of hands reached for hers; "What happened?" Arthur sounded concerned.

Before she managed to open her mouth to reply Cobb had done it for her; "She slipped on the stairs as we were running down. You'll need to bandage them up I think." He hadn't even needed to turn around, he knew what it was that would cause Arthur to become so worried. The point man pulled a bag onto his lap he pulled out a bottle of disinfectant and a couple of bandages he carefully took her left hand and placed it in his lap he didn't notice her cheeks flush as his fingers brushed gently against her pulse point.

She hissed slightly as he disinfected first her left then her right hand before wrapping them gently in the gauze. Once he was done Ariadne slowly pulled her hands back and placed them in her own lap.

"Thanks." She whispered leaning back in her seat.

Arthur nodded slowly before glancing over his shoulder his gun cocked as he watched as the three black land rovers followed behind them at an increasing speed; "Our tail is getting nearer." He loaded his gun and leant out the window aiming for the wheels of the cars that were following them.

"We aren't going to out run them." Eames said ominously.

Cobb turned and glared at him; "Well then you had better stop them then hadn't you?" his eyebrow was raised and he swerved the car dangerously in an attempt to draw the fire away from the car as bullets began to rain down on them once more. Ariadne pulled the Glock 17 up to her chest before exhaling loudly and moving so that she could shoot those who were trying to shoot them.

There was a loud curse from Eames; "I'm out of ammo." Ariadne shifted lower in her seat as bile rose in her throat. Eames then reached for her gun and plucked it from her fingers he was met with surprisingly little resistance and fortunately his shot was near perfect and the second bullet he fired took out the front left tier of the first car, it then span and flipped blocking the path of the other two.

"Nice shooting Mr. Eames." The point man's compliment was met with a hostile glare from the forger.

There was a pause as Cobb pulled off the motorway; "Is everyone alright back there?" Dom sounded a little shaken as he shifted in his seat to turn and glance at his passengers, the sight that met him caused his face to drain of colour; "Ariadne?" the architect was clutching a wound on her right shoulder, blood was passing from in between her fingers, staining her jacket and t-shirt a nasty shade of crimson, her breathing was laboured.

Arthur's gaze was now fixed solely on Ariadne, his eyes flitted from her face to her injured shoulder.

"Cobb eyes on the road please!" Eames' shout was enough to pull Cobb's attention away from what was happening on the backseat; "Arthur you need to keep a clear head ok? You need to take a look at the wound." Eames was taking control Arthur wasn't sure if he should feel glad of this fact or not. He made eye contact with Ariadne and immediately regretted it, he saw the fear in her eyes she was trying to speak but couldn't form the words. Time had almost slowed down and those few seconds felt like a millennia. Arthur was brought crashing down to earth as Cobb swerved violently and Ariadne screamed in pain.

"Sorry." Cobb shouted from the front before the point man could turn on him. Ariadne's cries had increased tenfold and Eames had turn around completely in his seat to get a better look at the young architect.

Arthur slowly prised her fingers from her shoulder, he peeled away her jacket in an attempt to get a better look at the bullet wound, she hissed slightly as Arthur pressed a finger into the wound; "The bullet is lodged in the bone, do I take it out?" it was rare that the point man sounded so out of control and Ariadne who is only dimly aware of anything other than the blinding pain in her right shoulder felt a fresh jolt of fear as she realised how shaken Arthur really was.

Eames glanced at Cobb who shook his head forcefully; "Not yet. Just put some pressure on the wound and try to bandage it up." Arthur did as he was told, his hands were shaking though which made the task more difficult.

"How are we doing for petrol?" Eames' asked trying to remove the tense air that had filled the car.

Cobb glanced down at the dashboard for a second; "We're about half full. We've got enough to get the airport."

"They won't let her on a flight like this Cobb. She is bleeding." Arthur ground each word out as though each syllable hurt.

"We need to get her to a hospital Cobb." Eames then had a thought; "Saito bought an airline."

Cobb glanced at him for moment; "What has that...OH." there was a pause as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and passed it to the English man.

"What? What do you mean OH?" Arthur sounded frantic.

Eames glanced at Arthur for a second before dialling a number; "Saito bought the airline, we can get her on a plane. We won't need to stop at a hospital, they won't catch up to us." Eames grinned as he explained it to the Point Man. There was a pause and Eames spoke to Saito for a moment before snapping the mobile shut; "He says the plane will be waiting."

"Good. We will be able to get her medical aid on the plane?" Arthur glanced up making eye contact with the forger for a second before his eyes locked with Ariadne's.

There was a pause as Eames turned to face the front; "Yes. Saito has a doctor on board." He paused again narrowing his eyes slightly before he spoke; "She'll be ok Arthur."

Arthur chose not to respond to that comment his attention taken up by the architect, she was breathing hard her eyes were also glazing over, Arthur suddenly became concerned that she was losing consciousness.

One hand was drenched in her blood so he used the other to try and keep her attention focused on him, he gently shook her other arm trying to keep her awake; the wound wasn't life threatening but still needed her to stay awake; "Ari? Ari can you hear me? Talk to me Ari." His face was close to hers and his head was bowed so that their foreheads were almost touching.

"Wha' would you wanna know?" Her speech was lazy and slightly slurred.

"Tell me about home."

"'s cold." Arthur gritted his teeth knowing that she wasn't staying on topic.

"I know sweetheart," he paused as he removed his jacket and draped it over her, "you need to talk to me though. Cobb is driving us to the airport. Mr. Saito has sorted out a flight and medical attention ok Ari?" She nodded slowly her eyes locking with his for a moment before she winced in pain closing them once more.

"Why the hell did this have to happen to me?" she growled in pain as she looked down at her shoulder, she could just about see the bloodied bandage underneath Arthur's jacket; "I'll be ok though? Right? I mean...people don't die from bullet wounds to the shoulder to they?"

Eames turned around in his seat; "Nah they don't love. You've got nothing to worry about. Saito's men will fix you up then we can worry about Feygud's men." He winked at her before turning to face the front once more. Arthur and Ariadne continued to talk as Arthur did his best to keep her mind of the pain.

"She will be ok right?" Cobb asked the Brit taking his eyes from the road momentarily.

"I should think so. It hit bone...probably won't do any permanent damage either." He smiled kindly at Cobb; "You sound like Arthur."

Cobb's eyes narrowed; "Is it a crime to be worried about a member of my team?" Eames grinned before shaking his head and glancing out the window. They would arrive at the airport within the next half hour. Hopefully once they got in the air they could find a safe place to hide out. While in most circumstances it would be safer to split up, Cobb knew that Arthur would refuse to leave Ariadne and he himself felt partially responsible for what had happened so he had no desire to leave her either. Of course he couldn't speak for Eames, but generally majority rules, he may be a thief with very few morals, but when it came to his team Eames would be loyal to the end.

oxoxoxoxoxoxo

A/N: Right so that was chapter 4 as short as it was. I hope that you enjoyed it. Reviews will always make me write faster so please review. No flames thank you. Again I apologise for how short it is.


	5. Flying Air Saito

Ok so this chapter didn't take as long to write as the others, it kinda feels like a filler chapter, but I hope you enjoy it all the same.

Disclaimer: I still don't own Inception. If I did you would all be the first ones to know.

**Chapter 5: Flying Air Saito **

The moment they arrived at the airport, the group were ushered past every queue and every line as they moved to the private airline. Eames had made a comment that he could get used to this kind of service.

Ariadne felt as if everything was moving too fast, but whenever she tried to slow the group down Arthur hurried her along, his arm holding tightly onto the crook of her elbow. She huffed slightly as the group were ushered into a private room, a man in a suit stood before them and bowed slightly as a sign of respect.

Ariadne pulled away from Arthur as soon as they were in the room, her eyes had narrowed into a glare, she didn't particularly enjoy being babied. Cobb noticed the look she was giving the Point Man and decided to step in, he placed a careful hand on her arm gaining her attention, and he then wordlessly asked if he could check her shoulder. She nodded slowly, Cobb sat her down and knelt in front of her.

"Don't push her Arthur." Eames' warning was quiet but it almost sounded threatening. Arthur wondered if he had underestimated how much the rest of their team cared about the Architect.

Ariadne then made a slow hissing noise and the Forger and Point man turned their full attention back to her and Cobb, the latter of whom was removing the bandage that Arthur had used. As soon as it was off a man and woman in crisp suits walked in. Arthur and Eames straightened expecting them to address them, instead they both moved to the small architect nudging Cobb to one side. He stood and gave them room to work.

"Saito said he had medically trained staff." Dom's comment was for Ariadne whose face was more than a little confused.

"She'll be ok?" Arthur's question was whispered to Dom.

The extractor nodded; "She's lost a bit of blood and I'm pretty sure her collarbone is broken, but other than that she's fine."

"And her hands?" Eames' question drew a confused expression from Dom who shrugged.

"When I wrapped them they didn't look too deep..." he paused before speaking louder so that the medical staff could hear; "the cuts on her hands should be cleaned though."

Eames rolled his eyes before looking at Cobb; "So where do we go from here?"

Cobb bit his lip as he paused thinking of what they could do; "We have to run...and hide."

"Do we split up?" Arthur asked his eyes drifting to Ariadne whose arm was being placed in a sling, the doctors had apparently already removed the bullet and cleaned the wound and re-bandaged it. They certainly were efficient.

"She won't make it on her own." Eames' whispered.

There was a very long pause Cobb and Arthur stood eyes locked as they both debated with themselves what would be the best plan of action; "We...we need to get into contact with Nicks, he hired us, maybe he can offer us protection." Eames shook his head, there were too many flaws in this plan.

"It would be beneficial for Nicks if we were dead. We're the ones who know that he forced his partner into patenting that weapon in the first place." Eames' eyes were narrowed as forger tried to think of another way in which they could get out of their predicament. The tension was heightened as Cobb's phone rang, he pulled it out and glanced at the screen; _Number Withheld_ was written on it, he swallowed hard before answering.

"So you're running Mr. Cobb." The voice was cold and Dom didn't need to ask to know who he was speaking to.

"Nathan, you have given me little choice. You don't want my team's services you want them dead." He paused and watched as Arthur glared at the phone; "What do you want?"

There was a short pause; "I just wanted to tell you that there is nowhere you can go that I won't find you Mr. Cobb." Dom had put the phone on speaker so Eames and Arthur could hear.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that Mr. Faith. We are very resourceful."

"Well I'm sure my men will rise to the challenge Mr. Eames, I will be seeing you all in due course I should think. Goodbye." The line went dead as Nathan Faith rang off. The three men all glanced at one another.

"So what do we do?" Ariadne's voice was small but when they turned to look at her they noticed that she did not look afraid; "We can't exactly run away forever, so you must have a plan." There was a moments silence as Eames and Arthur glanced at Cobb and then at each other before returning their gaze to the young woman in front of them.

"We'll think of something. I promise." Dom's tone wasn't all that convincing but Ariadne chose not to make a comment, she trusted these men with her life, they would find a way to get everyone safely out of this predicament.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Nathan Faith was a relatively young man for someone in his industry, he was 34 years old. He had inherited the business from his father who had tried to make the company more reputable than it had been under Nathan's grandfather. The young man however didn't want to follow in his father's footsteps, he had changed the meaning of Feygud Enterprises, a name that used to mean safe banking now struck fear into the hearts of most who heard it. They called in their debts regularly without a care or worry about who they might hurt in the process of doing so.

The young man placed his desk phone into its cradle as he looked up at his head of security; "How is it exactly that they managed to escape when you assured me that they were trapped with no way of getting out. You said that your security was air tight." The dark stormy look in his eyes spoke volumes of exactly how angry he was despite the fact that his voice and tone remained level. He lifted his arms slightly and rested his elbows against the desk bringing his hands together he laced his fingers and narrowed his eyes; "It is because of them that I have lost £3 Billion they will not be crossing me again. Is that understood?"

His head of security nodded slowly; "Yes Sir. We will find them. Sorry Sir." He bowed his head before ducking out of the room. Cobb and his team would soon learn their lesson for messing with Mr. Nathan Faith and Feygud Enterprises, of that he would make sure.

0o0o0o0o0o0

The aeroplane was small but luxurious, they had already been in the air for two hours and Ariadne had curled up in one of the seats and gone to sleep while the men all discussed a plan of action. Arthur's gaze lingered on the petite architect longer than was strictly necessary, he then turned to look at Cobb whose head was cradled in his hands.

"Where are we going?" Eames asked his face serious, an expression that was rare and one that caused Arthur's chest to tighten painfully.

Dom took a moment to collect his thoughts before looking up; "New Zealand." There was a pause as Eames waited for his justification; "The US is out of bounds 'cause that is where Feygud Enterprises are based, we can't go to Mombasa because of Cobol and the UK is out of the question 'cause that is where Faith and most of his men are from. I know a man in New Zealand who might be able to help us."

"Might?" Arthur locked eyes with him, "'Might' isn't really good enough for us at the moment Cobb." His tone was hard and he had to force himself to stop there before he said something that he might regret.

Dom gritted his teeth before replying; "Jacobs has a good team, I worked with him before I met you. He was a friend of Mal's." Andrew Jacobs was an entrepreneur, an extremely wealthy man and a very good extractor, and while he wasn't the best he was certainly in the top five. His team was small much like Cobb's he doubted that they would all be required but with the help from Jacobs they stood a better chance of getting Nathan Faith off their backs.

"Why haven't you spoken of him before?" Arthur was curious now, if not slightly hurt that the man who he considered his best friend had hidden things from him.

"It didn't seem important. Just know that I trust him with my life. He never doubted me when the government thought that I had killed Mal, despite being her friend first. He's a good man." There was a pause as both men locked eyes once more, Arthur nodded admitting defeat silently forgiving his friend for leaving out this information; "We should probably sleep. The flight will be a long one and I think we have to stop off in Hong Kong to refuel, but that is a good 7 hours away. We'll need all the rest we can get before we get there, jet lag is gonna be a bitch." Cobb did his best to lighten the mood slightly, a smile flitted across Arthur's face but did not reach his eyes.

He moved away from Eames and Cobb his gaze once again drawn to Ariadne, she shifted slightly in her sleep, the blanket that had been draped around her slipped off almost hitting the floor, but Arthur caught it and draped it over her shoulders once more. Something akin to a tender look crossed over his face and he had to fight a very strong urge that instructed him to brush the hair from her face. Instead however the point man moved to a seat behind her and got himself comfortable before reclining it fully and closing his eyes.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"How long was I asleep?" her voice was soft, it sounded as it was coming from a long way away, Arthur soon realised that this was because he had been sleeping until Ariadne spoke. He kept his eyes closed trying to drift back off to sleep.

"About six hours." Eames' voice was unmistakable even to Arthur's hazy brain.

He listened to Ariadne sit up; "Wow," there was a pause as she stifled a yawn; "how far until we get where we're going?"

"Well we have to stop off for fuel in around 3 hours, but then we've got another 19 hours after that." Ariadne huffed loudly at this news.

"Is there anything to occupy me in the mean time? That is an awfully long journey." She sounded very young as she asked Eames this and the forger did have to remind himself that he is in fact a decade older than the architect and was probably much more accustomed to such long flights. The forger gave her a sympathetic look but offered no help.

Instead he changed the subject; "How is your shoulder feeling? And your hands?" He noticed her wince slightly, apparently she had been trying to ignore her injuries.

"Fine. I'm sure you have all had much worse." Her brow furrowed; "Just because I am a girl and younger than all of you doesn't mean I can't take care of myself." Her glare was fierce and Eames chose to grin back at her.

"I never implied that wasn't the case my dear."

Her face became stony; "Yeah but Arthur did." The point man in question had almost drifted back to sleep when his name was mentioned. His ears twitched but he chose to keep his eyes closed Ariadne wasn't finished; "He has been treating me like a child ever since he pulled me off the streets of Paris. I don't think he trusts me."

Eames smiled softly at her; "He trusts you darling, he is just worried about you. He knows you can take care of yourself but...well...you're new to all of this and we wouldn't want anything to happened to you." He paused and reached forward to take her hand; "Don't be too angry with him. He's only trying to help..." his voice dropped to a whisper; "it's only 'cause he cares. Though he would loathe to admit it. He is more than that three piece suit he wears and don't you forget it." Arthur strained to hear the last part while trying to look as though he was still asleep, when he decided that they had stopped talking about him he stopped trying to get back to sleep and allowed his eyes to flutter open. He rubbed them slowly as he sat up, Cobb was fast asleep connected to the PASIV device no doubt dreaming of his children, Arthur did not doubt that the extractor loved them very much, but he resented the fact that the love of said children had now put them all in danger more than once.

The flight was relatively uneventful, Ariadne hadn't said a single word to Arthur since they had stepped onboard 28 hours before and now that they were leaving she pulled him to one side with a gentle tug on his hand. She swallowed hard before attempting a smile and moving closer to wrap an arm around him.

Arthur stiffened at the sudden contact, while it was not unwanted it was still very unexpected.

"I'm sorry I doubted your motives, I know you were only trying to look out for me." She held on tighter as she whispered into his ear; "Trust that I can take care of myself ok?" She pulled away and looked into his eyes. He had to force himself to look slightly confused, remembering that he wasn't supposed to have heard her conversation with Eames earlier.

He nodded slowly a small smile lifting his lips, his eyes sparkled and Ariadne found herself smiling too before wincing in pain. She had forgotten about her shoulder when she hugged him, and while it was in a sling the pressure their bodies had created caused it to twinge slightly, she reached her hand up to hold her shoulder her eyes now closed in pain.

"You don't have to pretend it doesn't hurt." He paused as he noticed her squinting at him, he tried to find better words; "You can cry if you need to. I won't think any less of you." The glare she was sending him softened slightly but she took a deep breath and calmed herself. She was going to do her best not to show any weakness, Arthur was sure to respect her more if she remained strong.

Cobb watched a short distance away as his point man and architect exited the plane, he hoped that Jacobs would help them knowing that without him they would be as good as dead, pulling his hand luggage from the overhead compartment Cobb wondered if Nathan Faith would be able to find them wherever they went. He tensed his jaw at the thought, his team would have to be careful and stay alert. A task that he believed they would all rise to.

0o0o0o0o0o

A cold silence hung in the air as Nathan Faith was informed that Cobb's team had simply vanished. The best attempts of his security men to find them had apparently been in vain. Mr Faith's face was contorted into one of pure rage, he clenched his fists tightly and listened as every knuckle cracked. He gritted his teeth and pulled in a deep breath, they had to be somewhere and he would find them. If he couldn't have the weapon that Cobb's team had gotten patented then he would take his team.

"Mombasa. They have a chemist, who lives there. You will find him...I only know him by his first name so you will have to do some searching. Yusuf." He wrote it down so that his security guard would make no mistake; "No not even think of contacting me until you have him? Understood?" He was doing his best to keep his anger under control, but failure was not an option, he wasn't about to let Dominic Cobb get away with losing him all that money.

He should have known that the man would be good at hiding. He had done his research on the extractor, he knew how to hit him where it hurt. That was why he had gone after his family first, threatening the children was only the first step though.

Nathan was prepared to do whatever it took to make him and his team pay. They would regret taking that job for the rest of what was left of their lives.

* * *

A/N: So that is chapter 5 finished. YAY. I am rather proud of myself I wrote this chapter very quickly for me. (In about 2/3 sittings.) Anyway. Reviews make me write faster. Chapter 6 will hopefully be on its way very very soon.


	6. Andrew Jacobs

Ok so this took forever but I have a very good reason. I have been writing my Dissertation for my degree so I couldn't write any fanfiction. I hope you enjoy this chapter I am rather proud of it. Hopefully now that I have finished my written work the chapters will come a lot faster.

Disclaimer: I don't own a thing. (no matter how much I wish I did).

**Chapter 6: Andrew Jacobs**

A young woman sat at a desk typing furiously on a computer, her red nails skittered off each key and on to the next as she typed without looking down at her hands. One of Saito's men had dropped them off at a location that Cobb had specified; they had been instructed by a fierce looking woman to wait for Mr. Jacobs as he was currently in a meeting and couldn't leave it.

That had been over an hour ago and Eames was getting restless.

"Surely Jacobs has finished his meeting. Come on Cobb you said you were his friend, you must have some pull." Eames' eyes were narrowed and his voice was hushed.

The extractor sighed and stood just as the door to Andrew Jacobs office opened; "Dominic Cobb," the man in front him looked on disbelieving; "well bless my soul, I never thought I'd see you in these parts." He grinned and paused pulling Dom into a warm hug; "You must need something." His tone was now serious. He pulled away holding Dom at arm's length and examining his face, he smiled knowing he was right; "We'll get to that, first your team Dom." He turned to the small group who had been sitting until this point got to their feet. Andrew Jacobs turned first to the small architect who smiled shyly offering him her left hand to shake, he took it and grinned.

"I, uh. My name is Ariadne, I'm the architect." She felt the need to tell him her job.

Jacobs eyed her shoulder carefully before glancing at Cobb; "I have no doubt that her injury is part of the reason you are here."

"She was shot." Arthur spoke carefully; "Arthur Weir." They shook hands and Ariadne wondered if Arthur had given his real surname.

Andrew then turned to Eames who eyed the man carefully before extending his hand to him uttering a single word; "Eames." Ariadne had to stifle the urge to snort, it seemed as though Eames had already decided he didn't like the man.

"You got a first name to go with that Mr. Eames?" the laughter in his eyes was playful yet challenging.

Eames' face soured; "I do. But everyone calls me Eames so you don't need to know it."

Cobb glowered and muttered; "Play nice." In his forger's ear.

"Don't worry Dom; Mr. Eames is only letting me know that I'm encroaching on his territory." He turned away but not before winking subtly at Ariadne, who found a blush creeping its way onto her face, Andrew then led the group into his office, Cobb followed him to the desk while the others sat down in arm chairs and on the sofa; "So what brings you to New Zealand? Get mixed up with the wrong people again Dom?"

Cobb took a deep breath; "Pretty much yeah, I need your team. We're being chased by Nathan Faith-" Dom paused as he saw a look colour his friend's expression; "What? What do you know about him?"

Andrew pulled a face; "I know that he usually gets his man." Ariadne inhaled sharply, before glancing at her team, they all looked very concerned, Arthur's eyes locked with Ariadne's for a moment. He wanted to somehow convey to her that he would do his best to keep her safe. Ariadne looked away, the intensity of Arthur's gaze quickly became too much for her to handle.

"Thank you for your vote of confidence Andrew, but you know me. Am I about to lie down and let him 'get his man' sort of guy." Cobb pressed his expression hard and his eyes set.

Andrew fixed his gaze on Cobb with a small smile on his face, he glanced down briefly at his desk; "What do you need from me then Dominic?" he asked tapping a finger against the solid oak of his desk.

Dom bit his lip slightly before opening his mouth; "This guy is dangerous and he isn't going to let us just slip away. I am going to need a few things from you, 1) all new identities for all of the people in this room and for my children and father-in-law 2) all of the information you have and can find on Nathan Faith 3) a stiff drink." He said the last part with a grin and Jacobs chuckled turning his back on Cobb to pull a bottle of gin from the cupboard behind him. He then proceeded to pull out five glasses and set them on his desk. He then poured out each of them a generous helping of Gin.

"Oh, I'm ok thanks." Ariadne tried to turn away the offer of alcohol.

Jacobs smiled slightly; "Dear are you in pain?" he asked waiting for her to nod, once she had he pressed the glass into her hand; "Trust me. It will help." He winked at her once more before passing the final glass to Arthur who was eying him carefully. The point man took the glass and thanked Andrew with a nod; "Dom, I don't know how much information I can get you about him. He's a very secret man; I will start my best people on it. In the mean time however, I shall get you new identities and a place to stay. He probably won't find your trail for a while if I know you Cobb you will have covered your tracks." He paused and smiled at the group in front of him; "You came to the right place." He added before pressing a button on his phone; "Danielle, do we have any spare apartments left in that building I bought last week?"

There was a short pause before the fierce woman from before answered; "There are two left Sir." Her tone was clipped and to the point. Dom got the impression that she didn't like the fact that the group had barged into Jacobs' office without her say so.

"Very good Danielle, they are now sold. Mr. Weir and Mr. Cobb are the new owners." He removed his finger from the button without waiting for a response he smiled up at Cobb; "We'll put your new identities on the deeds of course, you should have come to me when you were running from Cobol." He commented a small smile on his lips.

"You heard about that?" Dom asked.

Andrew laughed; "I think every person working in our line of business heard of how you double crossed Cobol engineering Dom. You always were the master when it came to strategy." Jacobs looked impressed as he sipped at his Gin; "What is making you run this time? Normally you'd be planning a counter strike already. Running and hiding isn't your thing."

Cobb bit the inside of his cheek before meeting Andrew's eyes; "They went after my kids. I was out. Inception had been-"

"Hey Dom, massive secret there blabber mouth." Eames interrupted glaring at the business man in front of them. Eames hated men of power like Jacobs, and while he seemed nice enough he was far too rich and important to be trusted with just any old secret.

"Inception isn't a secret Mr. Eames, everyone in our line of work knows what you did. Robert Fischer was a changed man once you were through with him. But that is hardly important; Nathan Faith is threatening children now? Well this changes a few things." There was a short pause as he pressed a button on his phone; "Bryce, look into Nathan Faith for me. Get contact. Let him know he doesn't mess with friends of the Jacobs' corporation." There was no voice on the other end but Andrew knew that his top man had heard him. He locked eyes with Cobb who looked thankful; "He is a heartless man Dom. Those kids have already lost enough." The silent acknowledgment of Mal's death was met with a nod; "Right, I assume you have more to tell me Dom but I think that you all need to have a lie down. I will have one of my men take you to your new apartments. Mr. Weir you and Ariadne will be a newly married couple I hope that is ok?" Dom glanced back at his point man who was in the process of getting to his feet, the tips of his ears had gone bright red, other than that however there was no other indication that he had been listening. Ariadne on the other had had gone completely red. Eames chuckled to himself as he got to his feet; he was beginning to warm to Jacobs.

0o0o00o0o0

It was dark as Yusuf approached his home; his cat wound its way around his legs and greeted him with a soft purr. He smiled before bending down to stroke the affectionate feline. It was then that he noticed the broken glass on the floor. Glass that hadn't been outside his house when he had left it that morning. He lifted the cat into his arms before taking a cautious step back from his door. He knew now that he was being watched, whoever it was that had broken his window was probably watching his every move.

"Looks like I am in trouble Nix." He whispered to his cat before letting it jump from his arms. Seconds later darkness claimed him.

When he woke, hours later he found that he could barely move. His hands and feet were tied. He struggled against his bindings for a moment before giving up; "Ah, Mr. Yusuf. You are awake." He felt hands grasp at his shoulders and drag him into a sitting position. He suddenly had to fight the urge to throw up; he had clearly been drugged by someone who didn't know what they were doing. The after affects were nasty as his head swam and his stomach wretched; "I was wondering when you would be joining us." A cold hand slapped across Yusuf's face. That was enough to have the chemist hurling his lunch all over the security guard's shoes; "Clean that up." The barked order came from behind Yusuf's head he assumed that the security guard had moved.

"You can open your eyes." This voice was different from the one before, firstly it was female, and secondly she sounded kind.

Yusuf opened one eye and glanced around him, he was on an aeroplane, that was a bad sign; "How long was I out?" he wondered aloud.

"About seventeen hours." Answered the woman who was cleaning up his vomit, she soon realised that he hadn't expected an answer as he gazed at her clearly confused; "He used one of your own sedatives on you."

Yusuf nodded, he had assumed as much. The reason why he was feeling so rough probably had more to do with the fact that he had been hit around the head and not with the use of the sedative.

0o0o0o0o0o0

The new identities would take a few days to be created but Jacobs said that they could move into the apartments straight away. He was delighting in watching how uncomfortable the point man and architect were. He was currently talking to Cobb alone while the other three settled into their new apartments. Ariadne glanced around the large living room. It looked like something out of a perfect homes magazine. Everything was modern and clean and beautiful. Her architect's heart was singing. Arthur was making himself busy in the kitchen, he'd told her to relax. She wasn't sure she'd be able to do that. She sat herself on the edge of one of the sofas and turned the television on. She was slipping her arm out of her sling when Arthur walked back in to tell her that food was ready.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

She glanced up as she winced straightening her arm in front of her; "I have the most awful pins and needles right now. I was losing all feeling in my fingers." She quirked a smile at him while she wriggled her fingers; "Is food ready? I am starving!" she exclaimed before moving past him. He sighed heavily before following her. He needed to remember not to worry about her so much, she was a grown woman, and she could take care of herself.

"You know there is only one bedroom in the apartment." Arthur commented in an offhand fashion.

Ariadne nearly choked on the mouthful of food she had just eaten; "What?" she asked her eyes were suddenly wide.

"Don't worry, you can have it. I'll sleep on the sofa." He smiled slightly, seeing her so flustered was a wonderful sight to behold.

"No!" she gasped all too quickly.

"No?" he asked quirking his head to one side.

There was a long pause as Ariadne fiddled with her cutlery; "I...I don't think I would be able to sleep in there alone." She managed to mutter before her throat practically closed up with embarrassment. Arthur nodded knowingly as he took another mouthful of food. They didn't speak of it again until the time came for them to go to sleep.

"It is a rather large bed. Don't worry about Ari, I will stick to my side of the bed." He said before disappearing into the bathroom to get undressed. While he was in there is phone started ringing; "Answer it for me please." He called to her. She quickly scrambled across the bed to answer it. When Arthur came out of the bathroom she was just finishing, she hung up and dropped his phone onto the bed, she was shaking Arthur was aware of that instantly; "Ari?"

"Faith got Yusuf." She whispered turning to face Arthur who was only wearing a pair of boxers. There were tears streaming down her face; "That was Cobb, apparently one of Jacobs' men found Yusuf's place trashed with a note saying; 'You don't get away from Nathan Faith'." She swallowed hard before biting her lip.

Arthur could see that she was on the verge of breaking, he quickly gathered her into his arms mindful of her injured shoulder; "We will get Yusuf back, and we will kill Faith. I promise you Ari." He pulled away from her and clasped her head in both of his hands. The pad of his thumbs ran along her cheekbones, their eyes locked, both of them were breathing heavily. Arthur forced himself to pull away.

"We should sleep." Ariadne muttered before darting into the bathroom to change. She felt sick. They could have already killed Yusuf for all she knew. What would she do if they had? She needed to throw up, needed to empty her stomach right now. She threw the toilet seat up and placed her head near the rim as she wretched and gagged at the thought of what they could be doing to poor Yusuf. She knew Arthur would be able to hear as she sobbed into the toilet once she had finished throwing up. Strangely she didn't care though.

"Are you ok Ari?" he knocked lightly on the door, but Ariadne did not reply.

Her mind was racing at 10 million miles an hour; she needed to calculate all of the risks, what could go wrong. What had gone wrong? They should all have been killed back in France. Of that she had no doubt. Once she had finished thinking about how awful the situation they were in was she cleaned her teeth three times and got changed into her pyjamas. Something else then dawned on her; she would soon be sharing a bed with Arthur. Perfect, pristine, point man Arthur. In her bed. Ariadne had to remind herself how to breathe for a moment.

0o0o0o0o0o

Eames didn't like hiding; he was a fan of fighting for his freedom. Hiding away and getting false identities seemed far too cowardly for the Brit. He paced around the living room of the apartment waiting for Cobb to come back from his meeting with Jacobs. Dom had called him half an hour ago to tell him that Faith had Yusuf. This was getting ridiculous now; this man knew all of their accomplices. Soon enough he would have put a bounty on their heads. Even Andrew Jacobs wouldn't be able to protect them from that. There is only so much one man and his money can do.

Cobb then walked in looking shattered; "Don't start Eames, I know what you're going to say." He rubbed his temples and scrunched up his eyes.

Eames growled; "I don't like hiding Cobb. They have already taken one of us. Who's to say he doesn't already know where we are?" he asked raising his voice slightly as his anger grew.

"I don't know Eames. I am sorry, this is my entire fault. I keep putting you in danger. But this is my family, you wouldn't understand." Cobb sank into an armchair his eyes closing of their own accord. They had all been through too much today. Jetlag was beginning to catch up.

"I may not like it Cobb, but I do understand." Eames muttered sinking into a seat of his own; "I just wish we could fix it now. This waiting is what I hate the most." He sighed letting his eyes close for a moment before forcing them to open again; "Looks like we will be sleeping this jetlag off for a couple of days. Goodnight Dom." He got to his feet and waved a hand over one shoulder as he headed towards his bedroom.

Dom would awake for a while yet, it would take a long time for his brain to just turn off, a problem that he had had for years. Sighing heavily he pulled the PASIV devise from his bag and began to set it up. Dreaming would help him clear his head; it would let him escape from the nightmare of his reality, for a while at least. Dom prepared himself glancing once more at the door to Eames' room before he welcomed the world of dreams.

0o0o0o0o0o

"We have the chemist."

Nathan Faith smiled to himself as he placed his phone down hanging up on his head of security. It looked like his plan was falling into place. Soon he would have his revenge on Dominic Cobb and his team. No one costs him that much money and gets away with it. He smiled to himself once more as he leant back in his chair. Soon enough they would all be dead and he would find a way to get the money that he deserved. He looked down at his list which held the names of all the people that Cobb's team held dear to them. His eyes fell on the architect's family. Her family who had no idea what line of business she had gone into. Perfect. His smile grew as he picked up the phone to make the order.

* * *

**A/N: How very exciting. Yeah. Well I hope most of you have stuck around waiting for me to update and I am so so sorry that it took this long but it isn't my fault. I shall start writing the next chapter as soon as possible. Thank you for waiting if you have. Reviews make me write faster. No flames please. But please review.**


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